Suppression of the opium trade; the speech of the Right Hon. Lord Ashley, M.P., in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, April 4, 1843

SUPPRESSION OF THE OPIUM TRADE.

THE SPEECH

THE RIGHT HO.V.

LORD ASHLEY, M.R,

HOUSE OF COMMONS,

ON TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 1843,

On Moving— "That it is the opinion of this house, that the continuance of
the trade in opium, and the monopoly of its growth in the territories of British.
India, are destructive of all relations of amity between England and China, in-
jurious to the manufacturing interests of the country, by the very serious
diminution of legitimate commerce, and utterly inconsistent with the honour
and duties of a Christian kingdom ; and that steps be taken, as soon as possible,
with due regard to the rights of governments and individuals, to abolish the

PUBLISHED BY PERMISSION, AND CORRECTED BY HIS LORDSHIP.

LONDON:

ULSTON AND STONEMAN, 65; PATERNOSTER ROW.

1843,

SPEECH.

Lord ASHLEY said that he had three petitions to present
on the subject of the opium trade with China. The first
was from the committee of the Wesleyan Missionary Society,
praying- that the house would adopt effectual measures for
the abolition of the opium trade between the British posses-
sions in India, and China. The two other petitions were of
a similar nature, and were from the committee of the Bap-
tist Missionary Society, and the directors of the London
Missionary Society.

The petitions having been laid on the table, Lord ASHLEY
spoke as follows :

SIR. — The house will, perhaps, accept as an apology from
me for venturing to obtrude on them the consideration of
this subject, that, although I have long felt and deplored the
iniquities of the system which I shall now endeavour to
exhibit, I should not have presumed to introduce it to their
notice, had I not been pressed in such a manner as to make
me prefer the charge of arrogance to that of indifference.
I have no ends or purposes to serve ; I have no connection,
political or commercial, with the matter before us; nor are
my constituents concerned in the cause beyond the interest
they all must entertain as common subjects of this great
empire.

But what is the position in which we now find ourselves ?
We are arrived at the conclusion of a sad war, of the origin

of which I shall now say nothing ; we are arrived at the
conclusion of this war, and are most desirous of commencing
the relations of peace, and of entering on an honourable and
lucrative commerce. It is necessary to do all that lies in our
power to avoid a recurrence of hostilities ; and yet this is
our condition : the causes of the war are not removed, on the
contrary they are more ripe than ever ; every exasperating
motive is at work ; audacity on the one side and resistance
on the other seem mightily increased ; what has occurred
once, may occur again ; and will occur again, unless we
hasten, while there is yet time, to be not onljr prudent, but
generous and just.

Sir, this cause is too important for mere rhetorical decla-
mation, and too strong for argument only ; it consists of
simple, hard, and indisputable facts ; if these can be dis-
proved the whole case falls at once to the ground ; if other-
wise, there is no alternative but to affirm the resolution
which I shall have the honour to propose.

Now, Sir, I have but two grounds of apprehension : the
one, that I may be accused of presumption in undertaking
to handle so weighty a matter ; the other, that I may appear
as acting in a hostile feeling towards the Court of Directors
of the Kast India Company. Of such a feeling, I can truly
hat 1 am utterly unconscious : I entertain the strongest
esteem privately for the character of several of that body,
and publicly for 111:1113- parts of their administration ; I am
convinced that they have conferred very great benefits on
the empire tlu-y are appointed to govern ; and, if there be
any guilt in the system which I shall develope, the guilt is
not theirs, at least theirs exclusively: it is shared by the
1 1 ure rnul the whole nation ; it is shared by the mem-
bers of this house, which, in the 3 ear 1832, sanctioned by a
law, the revenue derived from the opium trade, commending
the production of the drug, and actually approving its desti-
nation.

Now, Sir, I will first assert, and then I will endeavour to
prove that, so long as this traffic shall continue on its present
footing, all our interests, commercial and political, must be
left in perpetual hazard of interruption ; and that there can,
under such a state of things, be no well-grounded hope of
pacific and honourable relations with the Celestial Empire.

Now what has occurred once, in all probability may
occur again. Everything that has been said by experienced
and observant men previously to the late war will hold equally
good at the present moment. All the warnings which were
given before the war took place, are warnings at the present
time ; and every syllable which I can quote of that testi-
mony, is as valuable as though it were delivered at this
very hour. I will now proceed to refer to the language of
those practical men who pointed out in earlier days the fear-
ful consequences of our nefarious practice ; and which no
one can gainsay as applied to our actual position.

The first authority I shall refer to is a gentleman well
known to many in this house, who had long experience with
the subject, having resided for seventeen years at Canton, in
the service of the East India Company. 1 mean Mr. Majo-
ribanks, who said, in 3830 — "One of the greatest changes
that has taken place, and which, in my own opinion, will,
sooner or later, affect the security of our trade, is the enor-
mous extent of the smuggling trade now carried on in
China ; I do not imagine they possess the means of putting
it down, at least by any marine force which they have."
Again, Captain Alsager, who had made nine voyages in the
Company's service to China, said an increase in the smuggling
trade " would lead to riot and disturbance, which would put
a stop to the trade altogether." This was equally seen by
intelligent foreigners residing on the spot. In confirmation
of this I will refer to a work by an American gentleman of
the name of King, who had long been a merchant residing
at Canton. The work is entitled the "Opium Crisis," a

letter addressed to the chief superintendent of the British
trade with China, and written in 1839. He says — " I
have been present at several of the collisions, which have
taken place in our day, between the residents and Chinese;
and have remarked, that the sympathies of this people have
always been ranged on the side of their rulers, and against
the foreigners. I have heard of late some outbursts of the
native sense of injustice, at the impunity of the foreigner,
under regulations which punish the Chinese opium-dealer
with cruel severity. I was an eye-witness of the riot of
December 12th, when the populace turned upon us, at an
idle blow, and but for the interposition of the city-guard,
would have forced and rifled the factories. The allusion of
the commissioner to ' popular indignation,' is to me full of
meaning; yet I am concerned, not so much because he
made it, as because I see the introduction of opium has lost
us the affections of the good, has made us panders to the
appetites of the bad; and we may well fear lest we one day
suffer by the outbreaking of passions, to whose excitement
we ourselves have ministered." Now let the house compare
this with the accounts from Canton lately received. He
goes on to say, and this is a most lamentable fact— "For
nearly forty years, the British merchants, led on by the
I'nlia Company, have been driving a trade, in violation
of the highest laws and the best interests of the Chinese
empire. This course has been pushed so far, as to derange
its currency, to corrupt its officers, and ruin multitudes of
• >ple. The traffic has become associated, in the politics
of the country, with embarrassments and evil omens ; in its
penal cod,-, with the axe and the dungeon ; in the breasts of
men in private life, with the wreck of property, virtue,
honour, and happiness. All ranks, from the Emperor on
the throne, to the people of the humblest hamlets, have felt
To the -fact of its descent to the lowest classes of
are frequent witnesses; and the Court gazettes

are evidence that it has marked out victims for disgrace and
ruin even among the Imperial kindred." This statement is
true, and it is five-fold stronger at the present time. — Now
let me add the testimony of a gentleman formerly in the
East India Company's service in China, and which I the
rather quote because that gentleman's opinions are opposed
to my own. This is from Mr. Hamilton Lindsay, who gave
the following opinion on the subject, in a pamphlet which
he wrote, entitled, " Is the war with China a just one ?" He
says, "As it is, nothing can be more injurious to the British
character than the mode in which the opium-trade is at
present conducted. It is now real smuggling, accompanied
by all its worst features of violence, and must frequently be
attended with bloodshed and sacrifice of life." But I now
wish to draw the attention of the house to the language of a
person long on the spot, to the warnings by official authority;
there were few men more competent to give an opinion on
the subject; his predictions have been perfectly verified, and
he spoke of things so completely similar to the present state,
that no one can hesitate to acknowledge the resemblance.
Captain Elliot,' the superintendent of the trade at Canton in
i887Twrote to Lord Palmerston, expressing himself strongly
against the traffic in opium. He said in the despatch, dated
Nov., 1837, " the trade is proceeding tranquilly for the pre-
sent ; but the vast opium deliveries at Whampoa, under ex-
tremely hazardous circumstances, may certainly, at any
moment, produce some grave dilemma." Again, in Feb.,
1838, he said — " In my judgment, the interruption of the
trade is less likely to ensue from the commands of the court,
than from some grave disaster arising out of collision between
the government craft and our own armed boats on the
river." And in April of the same year he observes that —
" the deliveries of opium have frequently been accompanied
by conflict of fire-arms between those vessels and the
government preventive craft." In an official notification to

8

her Majesty's subjects, dated December, 1838, Captain
Elliot says, that " after the most deliberate reconsideration
of this course of traffic (which he heartily hopes has ceased
for ever), the chief superintendent will once more declare
his own opinion, that in its general effects it was intensely
mischievous to every branch of the trade ; that it was rapidly
staining the British character with deep disgrace; and,
finally, that it exposed the vast public and private interests
involved in the peaceful maintenance of our regular
commercial intercourse with this empire, to imminent
jeopardy."

Sir, it is necessary that I should apologize to the house
for referring to such an abundance of documents ; I know
the weariness that unavoidably accompanies such details; I
have nevertheless thought it better to recite the facts and
the statements of those who are practically acquainted with
the subject, and who have seen the operation of the system,
than to indulge in mere appeals and general observations.
In another letter to Lord Palmerston, dated January,
1839, Captain Elliot says, "It had been clear to me, my
lord, from the origin of this peculiar branch of the opium
traffic, that it must grow to be more and more mischievous
to every branch of the trade, and certainly to none more
than to that of opium itself. As the danger and the shame
of its pursuit increased, it was obvious that it would fall by
rapid <1» -grccs into the hands of more and more desperate
men ; that it would stain the foreign character with con-
stantly aggravating disgrace, in the si<dit of the whole of
the better portion of this people ; and lastly, that it would
connect itself more and more intimately with our lawful
eonuncrcial intercourse, to the great peril of vast public and
private interests. Till the other day, my lord, I believe,
tin-re was no part of the world where the foreigner felt his
1 f- and property more secure than here in Canton ; but the
grave events of the 12th ultimo have left behind a different

9

impression. And all these desperate hazards have been in-
curred, my lord, for the scrambling and, comparatively con-
sidered, insignificant gains of «'i few reckless individuals,
unquestionably founding their conduct upon the belief that
they were exempt from the operation of all law, British or
Chinese." Again he said — " In the meantime, however,
there has been no relaxation of the vigour of the govern-
ment, directed not only against the introduction of the
opium, but in a far more remarkable manner against the
consumers. A corresponding degree of desperate adventure
upon the part of the smugglers is only a necessary conse-
quence ; and in this situation of things, serious accidents,
and sudden and indefinite interruptions to the regular trade,
must always be probable events." After the lapse of some
months, Captain Elliot again writing to Lord Palmerston,
speaks of it as "a traffic, which by the present manner of its
pursuit must every day become more dangerous to the peace
of this ancient empire, and more discreditable to the character
of the Christian nations under whose flags it is carried on.''
He adds — " But, my lord, the difficulties in China are not
confined to this matter of opium. The true and far more
important question to be solved is, whether there shall be
honourable and extending trade with this empire; or whe-
ther the coasts shall be delivered over to a state of things
which will pass rapidly from the worst character of forced
trade to plain buccaneering." Attend to these words ! — In
the last despatch which I shall quote of that officer, dated
November, 1839, it is impossible to speak in stronger lan-
guage on the subject than he does. The letter is written on
board the Volage, and he says : " If my private feelings
were of the least consequence upon questions of a public
and important nature, assuredly I might justly say, that no
man entertains a deeper detestation of the disgrace and sin
of this forced traffic on the coast of China than the humble
individual who signs this despatch. I see little to choose

10

between it and piracy; and in my place, as a public officer,
I have steadily discountenanced it by all the lawful means
in my power, and at the total sacrifice of my private comfort
in the society in which I have lived for some years past/'
Now I have no hesitation in saying that the present state of
things is in a precise degree parallel, or something worse.
In proof of tliis, I will refer to the address of the British
and Indian merchants at Canton to Sir Henry Pottinger;
dated December, 1842 ; and' a portion of the reply of that
excellent functionary. The merchants say in their address—
" That there is a spirit of hostility to the English very general
among certain orders in Canton, and that the common people
are guided and influenced by parties who have means and
ability of giving effect to their operations in a more systema-
tic manner than could be expected from an ordinary mob."
What says Sir Henry Pottinger .in his reply ? « So far as
the mass of the population was concerned, they were, I
have understood, as civil and as well-disposed as I have in-
variably found them in all parts of the empire which I have
had occasion to visit since the peace was concluded. It
thence follows, that the change which at that time came
over the people, and which has gradually led to their present
state of exasperation and excitement, must have been
brought about by ourselves— that is, partly by mismanage-
ment, and partly by ill-treatment ; and I believe both these
causes to have had a share in bringing matters to their pre-
sent crisis." This officer speaks in strong terms, but they
are evidently only such as he deemed necessary for the
occasion ; they manifest very clearly his own opinion of our
national conduct."1 But hear the opinions of Mr. Ritchie,
who is supposed to be the apologist of the East India Com-
pany/in his pamphlet entitled the " Opium Trade." " Such,"
says he, meaning the opium trade, "was the proximate cause
of the war declared in 1840 ; but such was not the end of
the opium trade. The hostilities between the two nations

11

had the effect, not of putting down the traffic, but merely of
enhancing the value of the article. At length, after the de-
struction of many thousand lives, peace was concluded by
Great Britain a few months ago. And what became of the
opium trade, the cause of such dire effects ? It was not even
alluded to in the treaty !" — Now, therefore, I contend that
the eause of the war remains ill full activity, and is quite as
dangerous as before hostilities. What, therefore, can you
expect but a renewal of the outrages which recently led to
such lamentable results ? The opium trade was the original
cause of all the mischief that has ensued, and under present
circumstances there is every probability of a renewal of
those collisions which issued in a war. Why, let the house
contrast two statements given lately in evidence, the legiti-
mate with the illegitimate trade ; and this testimony alone
will be better to prove my case than whole hours of argu-
ment. It appears from the evidence of Mr. Jardine, given
before the committee of 1840, appointed to inquire into the
trade with China, that while the legitimate trade with China
was carried on in unarmed ships, it was necessary to arm
those engaged in the opium traffic. He was asked, " Had
not the East India Company's ships always a considerable
force in sailors and guns?" "No," was his reply: "the
East India Company's ships arrived generally in Septem-
ber, October, and November, and left again in January
or February, and through the rest of the year we were
without any force." He was afterwards asked, " What
force had the ships engaged in the opium trade ?" " The
Indiamen," he replied, " were all there at the time, they
had probably 150 or 160 men among them. I mean
the opium ships." "And they had guns?" — "Yes." Now,
what necessity was there that ships engaged in the opium
traffic should be armed with guns, while those engaged in
the peaceful and legitimate traffic were wholly without
them ? I cannot produce a stronger proof of the nature of

12

this traffic than the fact that ships which were engaged in
the regular and legitimate trade went unarmed, while those
engaged in the traffic in opium were provided with crews
of from 150 to 160 men with arms and cannon, and all the
munitions of war.

I will now quote the opinion of a right hon. gentleman,
himself a cabinet minister at the time he used the language
I am about to read. I quote this in no spirit of partizanship —
far from it, but in confirmation of my own opinions. I refer
to Sir John Hobhouse, President of the Board of Control,
who in the course of his speech in the debate arising on the
motion of my right honourable friend the Secretary of the
Home Department on the war with China, declared — " It
was the opium question which had given rise to many of
the difficulties with which they had now to contend, and he
agreed with the noble lord (Sandon) that it was to that
question that government ought to direct their attention.
And although he did not agree with the noble lord that they
deserved any censure now for having neglected that ques-
tion, still he admitted that it became any persons to whom
the administration of the affairs of this great empire was
entrusted, to turn their immediate and serious attention
to it." And in the subsequent part of his speech Sir
John Hobhouse said:— " Far be it from him to wish to say
anything less than was deserved of the unfortunate results
of that traffic, or to palliate them. He could not but
deprecate it as a vice, for a great vice it was." Let me
add an extract from a letter from a merchant, dated Canton,
Sept., 1841 :— "At Whampoa (the port of Canton) there are
no less than seven opium vessels, selling openly, day and
night. It will be disgraceful if the home government do not
make some regulations for these vessels, though hard to say
what they ought to do. The character and behaviour of
some of the scoundrels who command them is hardly a grade
better than that of a pirate or slave captain. The provincial

13

government of Canton is now perfectly helpless in regard to
them." Again, Mr. Gutzlaff, a gentleman who was so in-
timately acquainted with the Chinese people, said : — " If by
a generous and noble resolve on the part of the growers, this
evil could be counteracted, and the name of the pernicious
drug erased from our price current, we should have done
very much toward bringing our political relations with this
country to an honourable conclusion."

Now, Sir, sucli a state of things cannot but be highly
injurious, not only to peace, but to anything like a steady
and honourable intercourse with the empire of China. But
this trade presents another aspect, and is productive of other
evils, which have a more direct bearing on the interests
and well-being of the people of this country ; for, I think
that I shall be able to show satisfactorily that the opium trade
has operated most injuriously on our trade in substituting
that pernicious drug for the produce and manufactures^
Gl£aL_Bxitein. It was^HerTlhat TlhoughtT^erceived a
connecting link between the question and myself ;— having
been so long engaged in an endeavour — an unwise one,
perhaps, it may appear to many— to promote the welfare
of the working-classes, I conceived tTiat I was labouring in
my vocation when I made an attempt to extend our com-
merce, and open new markets for our manufactures.

Now, Sir, in contemplating the past and the present state
of our trade, we cannot but ask why no progress has been
made in the commerce with China ; or rather why at the
present time, when compared with an anterior period, we
have gone back in our importations into that country. Can it
be said that our manufactures or other products are de-
teriorated in quality or have risen in price ? Quite the reverse.
Can it be said that the jealousy of the Chinese with respect
to our manufactures has induced them to adopt a hostile
tariff, so as to render the importation of British goods into
their country almost impossible ? No such thing. Cau it

14

be said that the Chinese are adverse to commercial inter-
course with foreign nations ? If that be said, let me quote
the evidence of one whose testimony on such a point is
entitled to the greatest credit. — Lord Napier, in the year
1834, wrote — •" The Chinese are most anxious to trade with
us:" and again— "It is a perfect axiom that the Chinese
people are most anxious for our trade from the great wall to
the southern extremity of the empire." Sir George Robinson,
also states in 1835, " The people are intensely desirous to
engage in traffic." M. Gutzlaff affirms— " English woollens
are in great demand, yet we have still to look for that time
when the spirit of British enterprise shall be roused, for in
regard to China it is almost dormant." Lord Napier, indeed,
said that it was true the "Tartar government were anti-
commercial :" it may be so. — But why is not commerce
carried to the fullest extent of the privilege we have? Simply,
as Captain Elliot stated, because the opium traffic is " in-
tensely mischievous to every branch of the trade." If this
be not the cause, the reason must be sought for from some
other source; but if the house will have patience to listen to
me, I have no doubt of being able to establish the statement
which I have just made. Now the exports of the East India
Company to China, in woollens alone, for six years of mo-
nopoly, from 1803 to 1808 inclusive, amounted to £1,128,557
yearly average, while the average number of pieces was
297,888. Now let the house compare this with the total
exports, not of woollens alone, but of all exports of all kinds
of British goods under free trade, from 1834 to 1839 in-
clusive, (the six years between fthe opening of the trade
and the interruption occasioned by the war,) containing
shipments on American account, which may be estimated
from £200,000 to £250,000, and the yearly average will
be found only £996,441, the average number of pieces of
woollen being 156,535, at a value of £458,688. Now, the
balance to make up this sum of £996,441 , is, cotton goods,

15

£331,603 ; cotton twist, £139,663; sundries, £66,486. Nor
can it be said that we have made a progress in the China
trade at all proportionate to the progress made in our trade
with other oriental nations. During the same period the
yearly average of shipments of cotton goods to the East India
Company's territories, was £1,970,239, and of cotton twist
£594,026. It will therefore be seen, that of cotton goods
we exported nearly six times as much, and of cotton twist
between four and five times, to supply a population of not
one-half the amount of the population of the empire of China.
Again, from the year 1838 to 1841 inclusive, the cotton manu-
factures exported by this country to all parts of the world,
gave the yearly average of £ 17,051,960, of which there went
to China much less than the value of half a million.— But
to be able to form an accurate judgment of the export trade to
China, it will be necessary to look to the general progress
this country made during the same time. The exports
of British and Irish products, from 1803 to 1808 inclusive,
were of the yearly average of £22,550,885 official value. The
total declared value of shipments to various countries during
the five years ending with 1841, inclusive, was £51,583,900;
but if the official value were taken, it would more
strongly demonstrate the progress of our trade, for the
yearly average would amount to not less than £82,000,000.
This being a question of relative progress, let the house com-
pare the statement as to our trade with China in detail with
the trade to the rest of the world. If our trade with China be
compared with that to Russia, it will be seen to be about
one-half ; with that to the British West Indies it is not one-
third; to the Brazils it is little more than one-third; to
Turkey, Morea, and Greek islands, much below; to Cuba,
and foreign West Indies, about on a par; to Germany,
one-fifth ; to Holland, one -third ; and relatively, to the whole
of the world, it is not one-fiftieth. Nor can it be said that
our trade with China is limited or crippled in consequence

16

of the incapacity of that country to export goods in return
for our products. On the contrary, for several years 1
there has been a great increase in the exports from Chma. I
find that from April 1834, toMarch 1835, inclusive, the nnpo,
of tea from China to this country were in value 11,149,674
dollars; of silk, 2,486,365; and of sundries, 2,476,104;
making together, £4,027,785 sterling, taking the dollar at five
shillings. From April, 1835, to March, 1836, the total value
of goods exported fromChina was £5,102,347- The total ex-
port* from July,1836, to June,1837,inclusive,was£6,4,5,W

The exports from July, 1837, to June, 1838, amounted t
£3259,981, the yearly average of the exports from C
during this period being £4,716,324, a sum nearly five umes
as much as the value of British goods imported into Cl

Now, here let the house look to the capabilities of C
to give her produce in exchange for British goods. In It
and 1832, and 1833, years previous to the opening of he
trade with China, the average export of tea was 31,806,2081bs
From the year 1835 to 1839, inclusive, ^" ^
opening of the trade, the average export was 40,564,62
,nd the present delivery for consumpUon and export «
4200000Qlbs. From the year 1800 up to 1810 inelus.ve,
he anTa, average of the exportation of silk fro,n C ,na was
79 753 Ibs • from 1831 to 1833 include, 19,552 Ibs a,
after the opening of the trade, from 1835 to 1840 mclusLve,
^67 623 Ibs And yet after all, is this state of tlungs favour
aJtoBritishmanufaetures? State the case .nroundnumbr,

We receive from China, in tea, ^'^^^° *
amount of £4,500,000 yearly, and in river, £1,600,000. 1
Tlue of the silver is, probab.y, even larger ; because ,«
easy to ascertain the amount realized by sales of «*»»»«*'
coi;butthese taken together make a total of about ,xm.U
lions sterling. Now, what is given in return ? *•£"£
cotton and sundries from India to the amountof £1000,000,
British goods about another million, but ,n opium, £4,000,00.

17

probably more for the reason above stated, making a totul
of £6,000,000. Next observe the pernicious effects of the
import of opium on the import of produce of all kinds into
China; and first as to the trade of India. The following
statement is extracted from " an account of the value and
quantity of cargoes imported into Canton and Macao, on the
tonnage employed annually in the country trade-, between
(he different ports of British India, Canton, and Macao,
specifying particularly the quantities and value of raw cotton
and opium, in the following years," signed " J. Thompson,"
and dated "East India House, June 1, 1829 :"—

Yr:irs.

Opium.

Cotton and Sundries.

£

£

l:'.17— 18
1818—19

^.775

i,oee

2,032,62ft
1,901,668

1819

1.! I6.JMM)

1,248,233

1H20— 21

! ,62 !

910,429

15521—22

1,041,662

1,261,011

I! 522 — 2')

-',250

«J! 54,81 2

L823— 24

1,822,150

946,102

1 }»24 — 2-5

1,128,7-50

1,627,389

1!',2.*>— 26

2,445,625

1,479,694

L826— 27

2,317,4.56

1,609,851

1827—28

2,810,! $74

1,160,537

I have not been able to continue the tables to the present
time ; but the house will observe, almost without exception,
an ascending scale of opium, and descending scale of goods,
year by year, until, in 1840, the Indian trade amounted
in cotton and sundries, to £1,000,000, and in opium to
£4,000,000, showing that, in 1817, the trade in cotton goods,
&c., was three times greater than that in opium, and that
now the trade in opium is equal to four times that in
cotton and sundries. Looking to the English trade, I find
that the number of chests of opium imported into China, from
1803 to 1808, was, on the yearly average, about 4,000 ; the

18

number of pieces of woollen goods, 297,388; whereas, in
1839, the number of chests of opium was 40,000, and the
number of pieces of woollen goods, ] 56,535. The cause of
this is remarkably exemplified in a passage of the memorial
presented on the 19th of July, 1842, to the First Lord of the
Treasury, from merchants and manufacturers: — " The Scot-
land (says that document) laden with British manufactures,
consigned to a respectable British firm in China, was sent up
to Chusan during the time the British were in possession of
that island. The sale went on satisfactorily till two opium
clippers arrived, after which not a bale could be disposed of,
the dollars being given for the purchase of the drug." Now
Sir, my object is, and, I hope, the object of the house will
likewise be, to abolish this enormous evil, and to prevent
persons from forcing this drug upon the tastes of the
Chinese. I am convinced that, if the temptation were
removed, the Chinese would readily give their produce
in exchange for our goods, which they very much re-
quire. You all know what has been effected in Ireland
by the temperance movement ; there it has been found that
the persons who abstained from throwing away their
money on spirits, spent it on bread, meat, better clothes, and
in improving their dwellings; and it is well ascertained
that the persons who have expended their money in this
way are better by far, and happier, and more prosperous
people. A parallel case would occur in China — the principle
I seek to establish in this respect is clearly laid clown by the
gentlemen who signed the memorial, from which I have just
quoted, and is confirmed by Mr. Medhurst, who observes,
that " by paj'ing four millions for opium, the Chinese show
that they have money to spend, and if we can but induce
them to take our cottons and woollens instead of our
opium, we shall be blessing them and enriching ourselves.''
This memorial, I may observe, is signed by no fewer than
230 great firms, some of them among the largest firms in the

19

world ; of these 23 signatures were from Liverpool, 40 from
Manchester, 51 from other parts of Lancashire, 27 from
Leeds, 30 from the West Riding, and the remainder from
other parts of England and Scotland, and they are all of
opinion that it would be eminently to the advantage of
our commerce to put an end to the opium traffic. What
said Mr. Marjoribanks ? (and surely a gentleman of higher
experience cannot be quoted), " It is quite a vulgar error to
believe that the Chinese are otherwise than a very com-
mercial nation, they are without exception the most traffick-
ing people in Asia ; they continue the great traders of the
east." And yet what is the state of things as exhibited by
Mr. Lindsay of the factory at Canton ?— " Here is, in China
a nation, in population nearly doubling that of all Europe,
combined with a sea-coast of fully 3,000 miles, abounding
with the finest rivers and harbours in the world. Its ports
and cities are filled with an industrious, enterprising, wealthy,
and commercial people, and yet not 800,000 yards of broad
cloths are consumed amongst them annually, although their
numbers amount to 360,000,000, thus not giving an average
of one yard among 450 persons." Sir, in addition to these
testimonies, I must read an extract from a letter which I
have received from Mr. Dunn, the proprietor of the Chinese
collection at Hyde-park-corner, a gentleman of very great
talent, observation, and experience, who resided in China
from the year 1818, up to the year 1831. These are his
words : — " The Chinese are naturally kind and conciliating,
and feel keenly when treated with injustice ; they possess a
strong predilection for commerce, and a great taste for
foreign manufactures. The principal barrier to the rapid in-
crease in the consumption of British goods is, I conceive, the
opium trade. . . . Stop the opium trade, and you will have
their warmest friendship — a friendship that will so facilitate
and increase the consumption of your manufactures, that a
few years only would show them to be your best customers,"

e 2

20

This gentleman resided in China for a great many years,
and it was precisely to the circumstance of his having had
no dealings in opium that he was admitted to the friend-
ship of many of the Chinese,, who gave him this striking
mark of their friendship, that by their intervention the ex-
traordinary collection he now possessed was brought down
to him from various parts of the interior, and put on board
ship, without undergoing examination on the part of any of
the official personages.

But, sir, another, and by far the greatest, consideration
remains behind ; that for which kings reign, and princes
decree justice ; the consideration of that which affects the
moral welfare of whole nations. For what purpose, I ask, is
all government instituted ? I speak not of the practice — that
is too often corrupt — but of the principle of government.
For what purpose are all rulers invested with power, but to
encourage religion and morality, to protect and advance the
real interests of those committed to their charge, and to
hold forth to their subjects and to the world the example
of wisdom and virtue ? Has it been so here ? Has such
been our conduct in this particular ? Quite the reverse. I
will venture to assert that our encouragement, to this
nefarious traffic lias retarded the progress of Christianity,
and impeded the civilization of mankind.

I will first state generally what are the effects of this drug
upon the persons who use it as a luxury. In the " Philoso-
phical Transactions," it is said by Mr. Russell, " It impairs the
digestive organs, consequently the vigour of the whole body,
and destroys also gradually the mental energies. The memo-
ries of those who take it soon fail, they become prematurely
old, and then sink into the grave, objects of scorn and pity.
Mustapha Shatoor, an opium-eater in Smyrna, took daily
three drachms of crude opium. The visible effects at the
time were the sparkling of his eyes, and great exhilaration
of spirits. He found the desire of increasing his dose

21

growing upon him. He seemed twenty years older than he
really was ; his complexion was very sallow, his legs small,
his gums eaten away, and his teeth laid bare to the sockets.
He could not rise without first swallowing half a drachm of
opium." Dr. Madden, in his " Travels in Turkey," states, in
describing some opium eaters : " Their gestures were fright-
ful ; those who were completely under the influence of the
opium talked incoherently, their features were flushed, their
eyes had an unnatural brilliancy, and the general expression

of their countenances was horribly wild The

debility, both moral and physical, attendant on its excite-
ment is terrible ; the appetite is soon destroyed, every fibre
in the body trembles, the nerves of the neck become af-
fected, and the muscles get rigid : several of these I have
seen hi this place at various times who had wry necks, and
contracted fingers ; but still they cannot abandon the cus-
tom : they arc miserable till the hour arrives for taking their
daily dose." Again, M. do Ponqueville, in his " Travels in
the Morea," observes : " He who begins taking opium habit-
uaUy at twenty, must scarcely expect to live longer than to
the age of thirty, or from that age to thirty-six ; the latter
is the utmost age, that for the most part they attain. After
some years they get to take doses of a drachm each : then
comes on a frightful pallidness of countenance, and the
victim wastes away in a kind of marasmus that can be com-
pared to nothing but itself: alopecia and a total loss of
memory, with rickets, are the never-failing consequences of
this deplorable habit. . . . Always beside themselves,
the theriakis are incapable of work, they seem no more to
belong to society. Toward the end of their career they,
however, experience violent pains, and are devoured by
constant hunger; nor can their paregoric in any way relieve
their sufferings : become hideous to behold, deprived of their
teeth, their eyes sunk in their heads, in a constant tremor,
they cease to live long before they cease to exist." Sir,

22

I have read these passages in order to show what is the
general effect upon its victims of this abominable drug,
which we consider so worthy of the care of an imperial
government. Now let me refer to its effects on the Chinese,
for whom it is destined. Mr. Majoribanks, president of the
select committee at Canton, observed, in reference to its use
by the Chinese : " Opium can only be regarded, except the
small quantities required for the purposes of medicine, as
a pernicious poison. . . To any friend of humanity," he adds,
"it is a painful subject of contemplation that we should
continue to pour this black and envenomed poison into the
sources of human happiness — the misery and demoralization
are almost beyond belief." Again: "Any man who has
witnessed its frightful ravages and demoralizing effects in
China, must feel deeply on this subject." Mr. Medhurst
remarked, that it " would be well if the rich opium mer-
chants could see the frightful effects which the use of their
drug produced upon the unhappy beings who used it." I
think so too ; and it would be well if the Court of Direc-
tors of the East India Company, if members of the govern-
ment, and if members of parliament, could also be present to
see the effects of this pernicious and detestable drug. " Calcu-
lating, therefore, the shortened lives," he adds, " the frequent
diseases, and the actual starvation, which arc the result of
opium smoking in China, we may venture to assert that this
pernicious drug annually destroys myriads of individuals." It
often happens that the drug which has been partially used
by the richer classes, is mixed up with other substances, and
sold again at a low rate, so that not even the poorest are
exempted by the narrowness of their means from the con-
tagion of this terrible vice. The effects are well stated by
a British merchant in his essay on the opium trade. " There
is but one point of difference," he says, " between the in-
toxication of ardent spirits and that of opium deserving of
particular attention here ; and that is, the tenfold force with

23

which every argument against the former applies to the latter.
There is no slavery on earth to name with the bondage into
which opium casts its victim. There is scarcely one known
instance of escape from its toils, when once they have fairly
enveloped a man."

As to the effects of this drug at Singapore I shall say
nothing, since a noble friend of mine, who has written so
graphic a work upon China, will probably state to the house
this evening the results of his own experience.

Now let me proceed to exhibit the baneful effects on the
nations of India. Here is an extract from the work of that
eminent officer, Colonel James Tod, late political agent to
the western Rajpoot states, "On the Annals and Antiquities
of Rajasthan." What does this gentleman say? "This
pernicious plant has robbed the Rajpoot of half his virtues ;
and while it obscures these, it heightens his vices, giving to
his natural bravery a character of insane ferocity, and to the
countenance, which would otherwise beam with intelligence,
an air of imbecility. Like all stimulants, its effects are ma-
gical for a time, but the reaction is not less certain ; and the
faded form or amorphous bulk, too often attest the debili-
tating influence of a drug which alike debases body and mind."
He afterwards terms it "an execrable and demoralizing
plant." Sir, I set, indeed, a very great value on these docu-
ments, and it will be for those who follow me on the other
side of the question to disprove, if they can, which is not
very probable, the truth of the facts, or the justice of the
deductions.

I will now proceed to read what I regard as a very
important document indeed, a dissent placed on record, in
October, 1839, by one of the most able, experienced, and
accomplished directors of the East India Company, Mr.
Henry St. George Tucker, who protested against the whole
of this traffic. Observe his words : " By promoting the
growth of the poppy throughout Central India, as we have

24

done; by paying high prices, and by giving the native chiefs
an interest in producing, rather than restricting the cultiva-
tion, we become accessory to the probable extension of a
pernicious habit among a race of men whose well-being
ought never to be an object of indifference to us.
By encouraging and extending/' he continues, " the growth
of the poppy in our own provinces, and becoming the retail
vendors of the drug, we shall promote the introduction or
extension of the same pernicious habit, which is calculated
to debase our native subjects." These are the sentiments of
Mr. Tucker, and I wait to hear what answer can be given to
them. But I have another, and a most important document
to read, an extract from the « Report on the Tea Plantations
in Assam," by Mr. C. A. Bruce, formerly in the service of
the East India Company, and now superintendent of tea
culture in that country. Listen to this gentleman, and learn
from him the effects of this drug on our own fellow-subjects.
I must here request particular attention from the House to
the following statement, and from those who answer, me a
direct refutation, if such be possible. "I might here ob-
serve," sa3:s Mr. Bruce, " that the British government would
confer a lasting blessing on the Assamese and the new
settlers, if immediate and active measures were taken to
put down the cultivation of opium in Assam, and afterwards
to stop its importation. If something of this kind is not
done, and done quickly too, the thousands that are about
to emigrate from the plains into Assam will soon be infected
with the opium mania— that dreadful plague which has
depopulated this beautiful country, turned it into a land of
wild beasts, with which it is overrun, and has tit-generated
the Assamese from a fine race of people, to the most abject,
servile, crafty, and demoralized race in India. This vile drug
has kept, and docs now keep down the population; the
women have fewer children compared with those of other
countries, and the children seldom live to become old men, but

25

in general die at manhood ; very few old men being )seen in
this unfortunate country in comparison with others. But
those who have resided long in this unhappy land know the
dreadful and immoral effects which the use of opium pro-
duces on the native. He will steal, sell his property, his
children, the mother of his children, and, finally, even com-
mit murder for it. Would it not be the highest of blessings
if our humane and enlightened government would stop these
evils by a single dash of the pen, and save Assam, and all
those who are about to emigrate into it as tea cultivators,
from the dreadful results attendant on the habitual use of
opium? We should in the end be richly rewarded by
having a fine healthy race of men growing up for our planta-
tions, to fell our forests, to clear the land from jungle and
•wild beasts, and to plant and cultivate the luxury of the
world. This can never be effected by the enfeebled opium-
eaters of Assam, who are more effeminate than women."
This statement is confirmed by a private letter, from an
official gentleman in Assam, who says, " The cultivation of
opium is free in Assam; the fearful results from its use,
which every day present themselves to notice, are very
painful to witness." Sir, it is not necessary for me to com-
ment upon passages like these ; every man's heart must lead
him to the just conclusion, and be satisfied that this drug
has produced the most disastrous effects upon the happiness,
the physical and moral welfare of all those who use it. I
trust the house will agree with me that the parliament and
the government of this country, and all parties concerned,
must strain every nervo to put an end to the system alto-
gether. But mark, Sir, how different were the Assamese of
a former period when they were unacquainted with this
fatal driii-'-. In the Hcclikees-as-sef, a Mahoraedan account,
in 1 <>•')">, of the operations of Mir Jumla against that coun-
try, tlieiv is a description of the Assamese in the following
terms: — " The men are healthy, robust, and enterprising."

In this account, which gave a full description of theit habits,
no mention is made of opium among- the products of the
country, or of its use by the people. Such, then, is the
result of the administration of our philanthropic and Chris-
tian government; this, the effect of our paternal rule;
this, our addition to human happiness. It is out of the
question to suppose that Christian doctrines can have any
weight in a country where those who profess and inculcate
those doctrines encourage this most immoral and wicked
traffic. A gentleman who had been in office in India
told me, that to a missionary of exemplary character and
great energy, who went out there on his pious vocation, the
people whom he addressed, replied — "You tell us very fine
things, certainly; but the things you say, and the things
your countrymen do, are so little in keeping, that we can-
not listen to you." — I will now go to another district,
and quote part of a communication from Mr. A. Sym, for
some time opium agent at Gorukpoor, dated March, 1840.
He states : — " The health and morals of the people suffer
from the production of opium. Wherever opium is grown it
is eaten, and the more it is grown the more it is eaten ; this
is one of the worst features of the opium question. We are
demoralizing our own subjects in India; one-half of the
crime in the opium districts, murders, rapes, and affrays,
have their origin in opium-eating. Both Hindoos and
Mussulmen eat the drug ; and its pernicious effects are
visible on the population of the opium districts, particularly
in the neighbourhood of the depots. One opium cultivator
(he afterwards adds) demoralizes a whole village." He
states also, the great and visible difference in appearance
between men of old opium villages, and those where none is
grown.

Next, the practice of growing opium in India is productive
also of the most cruel oppressions. It is said, in defence of
the system, that it is not compulsory upon the ryots to give

27

up their land to the cultivation of opium ; but it is not to be
denied that government proceeds in such a manner as is
tantamount to compulsion. In the "Chinese Repository"
for February, 1837, there is this account of the very remark-
able operation which was gone through in reference to the
ryots in this matter : " ' The growing of opium/ says the
writer, 'is compulsory on the part of the ryot. Advances
are made by government, through its native servants, and if
a ryot refuses the advance, ' the simple plan of throwing the
rupees into his house is adopted: should he attempt to
abscond, the peons seize him, tie the advance up in his
clothes, and push him into his house. The business being
now settled, and there being no remedy, he applies him-
self as he may to the fulfilment of his contract.'" Such
proceedings, it is true, are not authorized by the govern-
ment; nevertheless, the practice is general; it has been
ascertained on inquiry by official persons long resident in
India, and well acquainted with the whole subject; and it fur-
nishes another proof of the enormous evils and abuses arising
out of a system carried on by a vast body of ill-paid native
agents, who, every one of them, from the highest to the
lowest, have a commission on the produce, and consequently
an interest in making that produce as large as possible.
Thus we exercise an influence equivalent to force. By en-
forcing this system over so large a portion of India, are we
not manifestly declaring that we govern that country simply
and solely with a view to our own interest, without any re-
gard to the interests, the rights, the wishes, and happiness
of its people? What is it the people of India— the
tillers of the soil require? They show what they want by
this fact, that in every instance where a ryot is left to him-
self, he cultivates, not the poppy, but sugar, potatoes,
corn, and other grain. But consider, too, what splendid
regions are laid waste by the cultivation of this pernicious
weed. "Vast tracts of land," it is stated, " formerly oc-

28

cupied with other articles, are now covered with poppies>
which require a very superior soil in order to produce opium
in perfection. Hence, its cultivation has not extended over
waste and barren lands, but into those districts and villages
best fitted for agricultural purposes, where other plants,
grown from time immemorial, have been driven out before
it." Mr. Trevelyan, one of the collectors of the East India
Company's revenue, said in 1840, "The Benares province is

our Jamaica ; it is the great sugar district of India

The valley of the Ganges is a tract of alluvial country of ex-
traordinary fertility, about 1,000 miles long, and from 150 to
300 miles broad, and if perfect freedom of trade prevailed,
and the necessary degree of capital and skill were applied
to the production of sugar, it might grow sugar sufficient for
the consumption of the whole world. It might get its grain
from the neighbouring countries, which are suited only for
the production of grain, and might itself be given up to the
growth of sugar, indigo, tobacco, and other valuable pro-
ductions." Perhaps it may be urged that the poppy has
taken the place of the weed, and by its growth rendered the
wildest soils beneficial to man: no such thing; it has
banished useful agriculture. Mr. Langford Kennedy, an
opium agent, distinctly stated in 1832, that poppy is "never
cultivated on waste land, but on land before appropriated to
tobacco and potatoes; both these, with opium, are crops
which require the richest soil; in every particular case the
P°PPy? where I increased the cultivation, was substituted
for other articles, which had been grown from time imme-
morial."

Sir, having now shown what is the effect in China, upon
our own population in India, and on man in general, of the
encouragement of this drug, I will now call the attention of
the house to the manner in which this detestable traffic is
carried oil. The conduct is worthy of its origin ; as itjbc-
, and so it eiul^ in fraud, violence

oppression. In a letter dated Macao, 14th June, 1839, the

writer says : — " The opium trade is not annihilated. It has
only, as it were, changed hands. It has passed to a class of
men prepared to carry on the traffic at all hazards, to over-
come all obstacles that may oppose their progress, by the
weapons of war, and who for this purpose, at this time, both
here, at Manilla, and Singapore, are fitting out vessels in
such a manner as will defy all the naval power of China/'
Another letter, from a gentleman at Macao to his friend in
London, dated Macao, August Gth, said : — "Vessels armed
to the teeth are employed along the coast, and actually
forcing it into the country.'' A third communication, from
the head of a mercantile house, dated Hong Kong, 8th
August, 1839, said: — The smuggling trade, as now carried
on on the coast, too closely approximates to murder, ever to
enable them to defend the morality of it, whatever they may
say of the drug ; to fire upon parties who endeavour to stay
them in an illegal act, or to sell the opium to men who
choose to risk their heads for money, is neither a gentle-
manly nor honourable trade." A letter from a merchant
at Bombay to a firm in London, dated December 31, 1839,
contains these passages : — The opium trade is carrying on
with the greatest vigour, and enormous prices arc being
realized. We have seen a letter from an officer of the Lady
Grant, a clipper that left this in September with about 700
chests of opium. She was leaving Singapore with twelve
guns, and a crew of fifty-five men, for the coast of China. A

letter from , of the Vansittart, states — (it is dated

Hong Kong, October 17), that a vessel has just arrived from
Calcutta, carrying eighteen guns and forty Europeans, be-
sides her Lascar crew. Our last letter would inform you
that the Bengal government put up 6,000 chests on the 4th
of January. The Sir Edward Ryan has just arrived with a
full cargo, and fully armed and manned by a set of desperate
fellows, who burn and destroy everything that comes in

30

the way of their disposing of their opium/' Now, let the
house hear what is the effect of these things on the native
mind. The following is from a native Hindoo, dated Cal-
cutta, August, 1839 .— If from what was before known in
England, one book has been published <0n the Iniquities of
the Opium Trade/ there will be dozens when the people in
England know as much of this trade as we now know. The
papers will supply you with ample information on this head
e latest circumstance I will relate myself. The Red Rover
and Sir Edward Ryan, lately arrived from China, and they
have both sailed out of a British port, under the sanction of
the British government, with the avowed object of landing
their opium, and selling it at all hazards on the east coast of
China. They will probably fall in with some Chinese guard-
•ate, and will not hesitate to murder and plunder them if
they can. Good God! will it be hereafter believed that
British merchants, in the nineteenth century, could, in the
=e of the world, without a cloak, and without a blush, en-
gage in such a nefarious and piratical adventure for the
sordid love of pelf? And yet no voice is raised, save that
which is heard from the pulpit, against this murderous expe-
The correspondent in China of a mercantile house
in India, observes :— "To show you that more of such occur-
rences may be expected, we conversed the other day with a
gentleman just arrived from China, who informed us that
efore he left Macao, he had been in company with four
captains of opium vessels, who declared to him that they had
fully made up their minds to attack and sink all that opposed
them in any way whatever."

This,Sir, which I shall now read, I had from an eye-witness.

e had seen, he states, -the clippers lying in the Hoogley

with crews double in number to what was required for the'

navigation of the vessels, carrying guns, and fully armed

(cannon, cutlasses, and muskets), with captains determined

> fight their opium in, at all hazards." I had yesterday the

31

advantage of seeing a gentleman, recently returned from
China, after a residence there for seven years, who gave me
some curious information on the subject. That gentleman
stated these heads— "The Lintin smuggling fleet keep in
use a set of signals. In 1838, a dispute between the Chinese
and the opium ship, Hercules ; a small village subsequently
set on fire by the English opium smugglers. In 1833 — 4,
collisions and loss of life. 1835. Opium ships continue to
increase, frequently fire into the Chinese junks ; send armed
boats to cover the landing of the opium. 1837 — 8. The
smuggling in the Canton river, in schooners and small craft,
commenced about August ; much murder and much blood-
shed must have taken place. In the night the sound of fire-
arms on the river might be heard in the foreign factories.
The commanders of clippers openly boast of their exploits
in firing on the Mandarin boats. The commander of a boat
told me 'they had fired ten barrels into one boat at one
time.' The very last accounts report six opium ships at
Chusan. There are now, probably, thirty or forty armed
ships smuggling opium on the coast of China."

Is it possible, I ask, that this state of things can continue,
that the government will not exert itself to extinguish
such an evil? Surely it would become her Majesty's go-
vernment to take some steps towards the repression of this
illicit and outrageous traffic ; if not in respect to the Chinese,
in deference, at least, to the feelings of the civilized and
Christian nations of the world. But I have something even
beyond this ; I have a letter from a gentleman of great
experience, written a few days ago. " When I was in
Bombay, in the latter part of 1839," says the writer, " I
learnt from good authority that the opium clippers were
supplied with arms." From where, does the house think ?
From the merchants' stores ? No. From private deposito-
ries ? No. But actually from " the very arsenals of the
government itself." Sir, is this to be tolerated ? The letter

32

goes on to say — " Our opium clippers assumed the style of
our ships of war when in Whampoa reach, firing1 morning
and evening guns, and in no way differing ; so that the
Chinese could only recognize them as ships of war."

Now, all this, no doubt, is unknown to the government ;
it is carried on in obscurity, in a corner ? Quite the reverse.
These proceedings form part of the fiscal arrangements of
the government; they constitute an important portion of
the imperial policy of India. The opium is grown by
advances from the imperial government, carried down to
Calcutta, and put up to sale under the government authority;
it is shipped in opium clippers lying in the river, and the
whole trade is carried on with the support and under the
eyes of the supreme government. I will confirm the state-
ment by the official account or regulation on the subject,
which is to be found in a letter from the Governor-general
in council, in Bengal, to the Court of Directors, dated
August 3, 1830. " Full information/' it says, " of the new
plan on which it is proposed to conduct the concern in
Malwa will be communicated through the Board of Customs,
salt and opium, to all persons concerned in the opium trade
to China, at this presidency : and we informed the Bombay
government that it was our intention to continue to en-
courage the extension and production of the articles on this
side of India." With reference to the advances made by
the Indian government, Mr. Langford Kennedy, assistant
opium agent at Patna, and opium agent at Behar, from 1811
to 1829, in his evidence before the committee of the House
of Commons in 1832, said that " advances were made by
him to the Gomastah, by the Gomastah to the Suddor
Mattoo, by the Suddor Mattoo to the Village Mattoo, and
by the Village Mattoo to the Ryot ;" and he adds, " the
Gomastah obtains a further income by a species of extor-
tion." He proves clearly enough, that the whole cultivation
is effected by government advances, and under the govern-

33

ment control. But this is not all ; not only is the supreme
government of India desirous to encourage and extend the
growth of this pernicious drug, but they take great and
minute care, a vast deal, I must say, in the style of shop-
keepers, to study the taste of their customers, and pander
to the vitiated palates of the. Chinese, and inflame the
temptations, so as to ensure an ample demand. Let the
bouse listen to this statement, the policy of a government
that rules one hundred millions of men ! The proof of the
fact rests on the statement of its own officers. Dr. Butter,
the opium examiner of the Benares agency, says, in his
paper on the preparation of opium for the Chinese market,
" The great object of the Benqal opium agencies is to furnish
an article suitable to the peculiar tastes of the population of
China, who value any sample of opium in direct proportion
to the quantity of hot drawn watery extract obtainable from
it, and to the purity and strength of the flavour of that
extract when dried and smoked through a pipe. The aim,
therefore, of the agencies shoxild be to prepare their opium
so that it may retain as much as possible its native sensible
qualities, and its solubility in hot water. Upon these points
depends the virtually higher price that Benares opium brings
in the China market, and the lower prices of Behar, Malwa,
and Turkey opium." This is the testimony of an agent of
the supreme government of Bengal; it shows pretty evi-
dently that it is the intention of the directors that the opium
should be prepared to entice and to suit the vitiated taste of
the Chinese consumer.— Now all this had been enjoined at
the same time that the opium-trade with China was known
and declared to be contraband, and the government made
profession of not allowing their own servants to be engaged
in anything so unlawful. I have another document to quote ;
it shows an almost parental care, on the part of the East
India Company, to ensure the safe delivery of the real
article. In 1829 it granted licenses to country ships to

34

trade between Calcutta and Canton, and these were the
conditions : — " We do hereby grant a license, for, and in
the name of the said united company, to the said ship to
proceed upon and throughout the said voyage, to the said
port of Canton, in China, and back again, &c. . . . Provided
and upon condition that this license shall cease and be void,
if and so soon as any foreign opium, or other opium than
such opium as shall have been sold at the public sales of
the said united company in Bengal, shall be laden with the
knowledge or concurrence of the master or commander
thereof, on board the said ship." All this time, I say again,
the government knew the trade to be contraband; the legis-
lature, too, knew and confirmed the sj'stem. The report of
the committee of this house which sat in 1832 on the opium
trade, said — " The monopoly of opium supplies the govern-
ment with of revenue." " It does not appear advis-
able to abandon so important a source of revenue, which
appears, on the whole, less liable to objection than any
other which could be substituted." I do think that this
proves how deeply culpable we all are. Parliament itself is
responsible for much of the mischief. I was in parliament
myself at the time, and I share in the responsibility; but I
had not at that time the most remote idea of the enormities
which the details of the system have since brought to light.
That committee were cognizant of the detestable and cruel
manner in which the trade was carried on. We may see
that we have thrown a veil over these enormities by our
own vile legislation, and done a great deal to blunt the
moral perceptions of the people engaged in it. See the
effect ; when Mr. Jardine was examined before a committee
of the house in May, 1840, a question was asked of him,
whether " the Europeans engaged in the trade were not
aware of the moral objection to the trade?" Now, what
was his answer? " When," says he, " the East India Com-
pany were growing1 and selling opium, and there was a

35

declaration of the houses of Lords and Commons, with all
the bench of bishops at their back, that it was inexpedient
to do away the trade, I think our moral scruples need not
have been so very great." Sir, there is a great deal of
truth, as the world is constituted, in that answer of Mr.
Jardine, and a great deal to be learned from it— I hope the
house will excuse me for entering into all these details.
When I had undertaken to bring this question before the
house, I felt myself bound to do it completely, and set
before the house, by statements and facts, all the causes and
consequences of this system, and the effects produced, both
on India and China, by the contraband trade.

But now, Mr. Speaker, let us come to the first and highest
consideration of all ; the consideration of the effects derived
from the imperial sanction of this trade on every thing that
is of sterling value — on the progress of society, the civiliza-
tion of man, and the advancement of the gospel. I remem-
ber well, for I much admired, the language of the right
honourable gentleman, the member for Edinburgh, in the
debate on the gates of Somnauth. " Every act," said the
right honourable gentleman, " which tended to bring Chris-
tianity into contempt was high treason against the civiliza-
tion of the human race." I heartily concurred in that senti-
ment, and I proved my sincerity by voting for the motion,
and with the right honourable gentleman. I hope that the
right honourable gentleman will do the same for himself,
and prove his sincerity by voting with me ; because I can
show, from the testimony of thinking men, that opium and
the Bible cannot enter China together. What said Mr.
Medhurst ? He said, "It has been told, and it shall be rung
in the cars of the British public again and again, that opium
is demoralizing China, and becomes the greatest barrier to
the introduction of Christianity which can be conceived of.
But the difficulty of convincing others of the truth of Chris-
tianity, and of the sincere intentions of Christians, is
D 2

36

greater in proportion to the extent of the opium trade to
China. Almost the first word uttered by a native, when
urged to believe in Christ, is" — and this I beg the house to
consider well — " ' Why do Christians bring us opium, and
bring it directly in defiance of our own laws ? That vile
drug has poisoned my son; has ruined my brother; and
well nigh led me to beggar my wife and children. Surely,
those who import such a deleterious substance, and injure
me for the sake of gain, cannot wish me well, or be in pos-
session of a religion that is better than my own. Go, first,
and persuade your own countrymen to relinquish this nefa-
rious traffic, and give me a prescription to correct this vile
habit, and then I will listen to your exhortations on the
subject of Christianity.' . . . Should the Chinese," he adds,
" ever determine on stopping the trade, it will be from a far
different motive than a wish to exclude the gospel. The
determined perseverance and the audacious daring with
which the opium traffic is pushed forward, to the real injury
of his people, as well as the defiance of his authority, exas-
perates the emperor a great deal more than the distribution
of tracts along the coast." What, too, says Mr. Squire, who
has resided for several years in China, as an agent of the
Church Missionary Society ? Speaking of the opium shops
in Canton, he says, "Never, perhaps, was there a nearer
approach to a hell upon earth than within the precincts of
these vile hovels, where gaming is likewise carried on to a
great extent. Here every gradation of excitement and de-
pression may be witnessed." He adds, " Truly it is an en-
gine in Satan's hands, and a powerful one ; but let it never
be forgotten, that a nation professing Christianity supplies
the means; and further, that that nation is England, through
her possessions in Hindostan." Again, the Rev. Howard
Malcom, of the United States, said the same thing; and I
wish much to impress it on the house — " The great blot on
foreigners at Canton, though not all, is the opium trade.

37

That men of correct moral sensibilities and enlightened
minds should be so blinded by custom, or desire of gain, as
to engage in this business is amazing .... We have little
reason," he continues, " to wonder at the reluctance of
China to extend her intercourse with foreigners ; nearly the
whole of such intercourse brings upon her pestilence,
poverty, crime, and disturbance. No person can describe
the horrors of the opium trade .... That the government of
British India should be the prime abettors of thisxibominable
traffic, is one of the grand wonders of the nineteenth cen-
tury. The proud escutcheon of the nation which declaims
against the slave trade, is thus made to bear a blot broader
and [darker than any other in the Christian world." Sir,
these observations are most true ; I am fully convinced that
for the country (o encourage this nefarious traffic is as bad,
perhaps worse, than encouraging the slave trade. That ter-
rible system of slavery does not necessarily destroy the phy-
sical and moral qualities of its victims. It tortures and de-
grades the man, but it leaves him susceptible of regeneration.
But the opium trade destroys the man, both body and soul,
and carries a hideous ruin over millions which can never be
repaired. You may abolish the evil this night; but you
cannot restore the millions who have been tempted by the
proceedings of the government of India to indulge in the
use of the pernicious drug.

Now a fact has just occurred, than which nothing, I am cer-
tain, can reflect greater disgrace on all our conduct ; it oc-
curred on Wednesday last. The Baptist Missionary Society —
a society which has done a great deal in effecting the spread
of the gospel among heathen nations, and which has pro-
duced some most eminent and pious men — at a meeting last
Wednesday, took into consideration the propriety of sending
out missionaries to China ; and it was decided to work through
the agency of the American missions, because the public feel-
ing in China was so strong against the English, that if the

38

missionaries hoped to work at all, it must be through America,
•which had kept aloof, in a great degree, from this dis-
graceful traffic. And what was the result ? Why the
Baptist Missionary Society of England voted £500 to be
put at the disposal of the American missionaries for the pro-
pagation of the gospel in China ! — So, Sir, it has come to this,
that England, which professes to be at the head of Christian
nations, is precluded by her own immoral conduct from
sending her own missionaries to that part of the world which
she herself has opened for the advancement of civilization
and the enlightenment of Christianity.

There is another still more curious document, to which I
must refer, as it tends to show how the conduct of this
country to China has been calculated to bring Christianity
into disrepute with that nation. It appears that in 1677,
" the Emperor Kanghe sent men to weep before the corpse
of a missionary, Father Magaillans; he supplied also a costly
shroud, and directed the chief men of his court to attend
the funeral, to show the high esteem he had for the preachers
of the gospel." Until the year 1836 there had been issued
no edict against Christianity itself, though there had been
edicts against certain professors of Christianity. But in 1836
there was published the following document : — " Decree by
Imperial Commission, dated Canton Taon-Kwang, 16th
year, 29th day, 4th moon, against Christianity, from the
Treasurer Goo and Superior Judge Van. To spread the
Christian religion is to deceive the people ; that religion is,
in fact, the ruin of morals and of the human heart. Why
do you believe fables which only destroy the human heart ?
Why do you seek vile gain, and thus procure your destruc-
tion ?" When I read that edict, I solemnly declare, it con-
veyed to my mind a feeling of horror I had never before
experienced. I felt that by the unprincipled acts of our
government towards that people, we had made the " name
of God to be blasphemed among the heathen."

39

Let the house look to the facts adduced by Mr. Tucker :
— " I have never been without some faint hope," he says,
" that a system, to my mind most pernicious and discredit-
able to us, would sooner or later be abandoned. . . . The
utmost efforts have been used to extend the cultivation of
the poppy in our old provinces. Premiums and rewards
have been held out; new offices and establishments have

been created The supreme government of India, too,

have condescended to supply the retail shops with opium for
domestic consumption, and have thus added a new feature
to our fiscal policy." Was there ever before, Sir, such a thing
perpetrated by a government ? " I believe," he adds, " that
no one act of our government has appeared in the eyes of
respectable natives, both Mahomedan and Hindoo, more
questionable than the establishment of the abkarry or tax on
the sale of spirituous liquors and drugs. Nothing, I suspect,
has tended so much to lower us in their regard. They see
us derive a revenue from what they esteem an impure
source." . . . "Was it becoming," he continues, "in a great
government to exhibit itself as the purveyor of opium to
publicans, or ' to establish shops on the part of the govern-
ment (I use the words of the regulation) for the retail sale
of the drug?' ;;Is it desirable that we should bring it to the
very door of the lower orders, who might never otherwise
have found the article within their reach, and who are now
tempted to adopt a habit alike injurious to health and good
morals ?" He then goes on to mention that " the cultivation
of the poppy has now been spread throughout a large portion
of Rajpootana, as well as in our own and the Mahratta dis-
tricts of central India and the Affghan state of Bhopal. Ne-
gotiations have been entered into, and treaties concluded,
such as are not, I believe, to be paralleled in the whole his-
tory of diplomacy. We have undertaken to pay Holkar the
sum of six lacs of rupees annually ; and we are anxious that
Scindia should be induced to accept a subsidy of the same

40

description. Oudpoor, Kotali, Boondi, and other Rajpoot
states are all to receive, and some of them do actually re-
ceive, annual payments from us on account of opium. And
for what purpose ?" Why, to the exclusion of other pro-
ducts, in some instances, the sugar-cane, cotton, and other
things which constitute the riches of a country, and minister
to the wants and comforts of the people.

This, Sir, is the statement of the evil, its causes and re-
sults : the mischief it has done must guide us to a judgment
of the mischief it will do, unless speedily abolished by the
intervention of this house. I will now venture to consider
the remedy that may be proposed. In the first place, I
contend that you ought to destroy the monopoly which the
East India Company possesses of the growth and manufac-
ture of opium in India. I follow the opinion of experienced
persons when I state that it may be abolished. It is the
opinion of such persons that the abolition of the monopoly
would alone abate nine-tenths of the mischief: nothing but
monopoly could have forced the enormous extension of the
traffic. This was the opinion of Mr. Robert Inglis, a gentle-
man long connected with the opium-trade, and who was
examined before the committee in 1840. " How long ago,"
he was asked, " had you said .that you were sure that the
thing could not go on ?" — " For four or five years past ; the
last time I was in England I remember more than once
saying that the thing could not go on." " What gave you that
impression ?" — "An immense quantity of opium being forced
upon the Chinese every year, and that, in its turn, forcing it
up the coast in our vessels." "When you use the words
' forcing it upon them/ do you mean that they were not
voluntary purchasers?" — ''No; but the East India Company
were increasing the quantity of opium almost every year,
without reference to the demand in China ; that is to say,
there was always an immense supply of opium in China,

41

and the Company still kept increasing the quantity at lower
prices." " Do you use the word ' forcing' in the same way
that you would use it in reference to a large supply of cotton
goods, or anything else ?'' — " Yes." " When you say ' The
East India Company,' you mean that it was opium grown in
India ?" — " Yes ; I say the East India Company, because I
conceive that nothing but a monopoly could have forced the
opium in the way in which it was done." The same is con-
firmed by Lieutenant-Colonel Tod : — " Our monopoly/'
says that officer, " acted as an encouragement to this vice,
for no sooner was it promulgated that the Compani Sahib
was contractor-general for opium, than prince and peasants,
nay, the very scavengers, dabbled in the speculation. All
Mulwa was thrown into a ferment; like the Dutch tulip
bubble, the most fraudulent purchases and transfers were
effected by men who had not a seed of opium in their pos-
session." And further than this, the government encouraged
the growth of the drug by allowing the collectors a per
centage on 'the produce ; and not merely a per ccritage on
what was produced, but on the quantity produced under
each collector above what was produced under the former
collector. The local government allowed the collectors of
the districts a per centage at the sales in Calcutta, upon the
surplus produce over and above what was produced by their
predecessors ! " Hence," said the opium agent, " the great
stimulus givqiUJX^ltivationJil^^ •I2[L4JKl

no wonder; for is the house aware of the influence and
power of such functionaries ? The collectors are far greater
officers than their names would signify; they assess the
districts, they are magistrates, and, as it were, a house of
commons in themselves. Any one at all acquainted with
oriental habits will say that the wish of a collector is nearly
tantamount to a command. The first thing, then, that I will
propose, is the abolition of the monopoly of the Indian govern-
ment, and I will adopt, to recommend my proposition, words

42

more emphatic than I could devise of my own ; I will pro-
pose the abolition in " the hope (with reference to internal
consumption) that it will tend to restrain the use of this
pernicious drug-." ... I will add, "were it possible to prevent
the use of the drug altogether, except strictly for the purpose
of medicine, we would gladly do it in compassion to man-
kind." Now whose words are these? Are they the words
of some sorry pamphleteer ? of some disappointed candidate
for official appointment ? No. They are the words of the
Directors of the East India Company themselves, in a letter
to the Governor-General and the Council in Bengal. They
admit that the use of the drug is pernicious, and they say
that, out of compassion to mankind, they would gladly
prevent its use altogether, except as a medicine. This is a
noble sentiment of the court ; and it is now the duty of the
legislature to come forward to their help, and enable them
to carry out their wise and beneficent intentions.

Now, Sir, to remove another feature of the evil, I would
prohibit altogether the cultivation of the drug in the territo-
ries of the East India Company. Many, I fear, will differ
from me on this head; aml'tlie resolution I shall have to
propose does not affirm such a course. It would, however,
be a practicable measure ; it has been done before, and it
may be done again ; it has been effected partially, and may
be so universally. The whole system in India is one of pro-
hibition ; the drug had been suppressed by the presidency
of Bombay. I find a paper, requesting from the supreme
government a communication of the views of the Bombay
government as to the best method of checking the exporta-
tion of Malwa opium,— the Bombay government states in
reply, that the cultivation of the poppy had been prohi-
bited in Guzerat (in 1803), by the influence of the British
government, so, by the same influence, the cultivation of the
drug for exportation might be prohibited in Malwa. What
said Lieutenant-Colonel Tod, whose remarks are extremely

43

important? — "If the now paramount power, instead of
making a monopoly of it, and consequently extending its
cultivation, would endeavour to restrict it by judicious
legislative enactments, or at least reduce its culture to what
it was forty years ago, generations yet unborn would have
just reason to praise us for this work of mercy. It is no less
our interest than our duty to do so, and to call forth genuine
industry for the improvement of cotton, indigo, sugar-cane,
and other products, which would enrich instead of demoral-
izing, and therefore impoverishing, the country."

But again, to return to the question of the prohibition of
the growth of this plant. If it has been prohibited in many
parts of India, why not prohibit it in all ? It is not a thing
that is grown in a night ; it must be sown and lie on the
ground for a considerable time, at least four months. Mr. H.
St. George Tucker, an East India director, tells us that such
measures have been successful. " In prosecuting our po-
licy," he says, "we went so far as to prohibit the cultivation
of the poppy in the districts of Bhaugalpore and Rungpore,
where it had long been grown extensively, and where the
produce had theretofore been appropriated to the purposes
of the monopoly; and at a period not very remote, on in-
formation being obtained that cultivation in Rungpore had
been clandestinely renewed, the government did not hesitate
to order the plant to be eradicated in the most peremptory
and arbitrary manner." The opinion as to the possibility of
the prohibition of the growth of the poppy is likewise con-
firmed by the Board of Directors of the Assam Tea Com-
pany. They say in the report in 1841 — " The growth of
the poppy on their lands is entirely prohibited. This prohi-
bition it will be as much the interest as the duty of the
company strictly to observe ; and it is to be hoped that the
government itself will take active measures to put down the
cultivation of opium throughout the province, for to the very
general use of this drug may be mainly attributed the scan-

44

tiness of the population, the wretched condition of the
Assamese, and the difficulty of obtaining labour from a race
enfeebled by its effects." I have, therefore, the testimony
of the Assam Tea Company, that not only is the prohibition
carried out in their territories, but they likewise express a
hope that this prohibition may be rendered general through-
out the province by the government. And who are the
parties who have expressed this opinion ? The chairman of
the company at that time was Sir George Gerard de Hoclie-
pied Larpent ; deputy chairman, Sir W. Baines, bart. ; di-
rectors, Messrs. John Alliston, Francis Fox, William Man-
ning, Alexander Rogers, Foster Reynolds, William R.
Robinson, John Small, Richard Twining, John Travers,
Thomas Weeding, and last, though not least, Mr. Ross D.
Mangles, member for Guildford, who, I feel assured, will
give his vote this night in conformity with his opinion. I
will quote one other opinion, the opinion of no unimportant
person on this subject — the opinion of Sir G. B. Robinson,
as expressed to Lord Palmerston on the 5th of February,
1836. " Whenever," said that gentleman, " his Majesty's
government direct us to prevent British vessels engaging in
the traffic, we can enforce any order to that effect ; but a
more certain method would be to prohibit the growth of the
poppy and manufacture of opium in British India." Sir, it
is very singular that the opinion I have just read should be
received with cheers from both sides of the house ; by the
parties composing the two governments of late years, which
have seen the evil, and applied no remedy. Both have de-
plored it ; and both have allowed it to remain. The diffi-
culties, no doubt, have been great ; but so are the crime and
the danger, which must now be met, and boldly met, by the
principles and the energy of a government.

Now, Mr. Speaker, in opposition to these several pro-
posals, there have been raised a variety of arguments, which
I will briefly consider. The first of these is grounded on the

45

assumed insincerity of the Chinese rulers, that they are not
sincere in their professions of anxiet}T to exclude the opium.
Now, supposing it be so, their insincerity is no business
of ours. Law is law, and must be respected. It would be
no affair of ours, if the French government should pretend
moral motives for the prohibition of our goods, when its
objects, in fact, were exclusively fiscal ; we must pay regard
to national regulations. What people give us credit for
honesty and principle in suppressing the slave-trade? We
feel ourselves grossly wronged by such suspicions. Let this
infuse into us a particle of charity, and make us believe that
it is possible for the emperor of China to be guided by a
desire of good, and the moral welfare of his people. But,
Sir, I believe in the total and complete sincerity of the su-
preme government of China on this subject ; not of the local
government, for that has been most completely corrupted by
us in a long course of briber}- and intimidation. Look at
the whole history of the opium trade with China. Accord-
ing to Mr. Ritchie, " In Kienlung's reign, as well as previ-
ously, opium was inserted in the tariff of Canton, as a
medicine, subject to a duty. After this it was prohibited.
As soon as his successor, Keaking, mounted the throne,
opium-smoking was declared to be an offence punishable by
the pillory and the bamboo. In the fourth year of his reign
(17!)0) the sale was interdicted; and the punishment
annexed to a contravention of the law increased gradually to
transportation and death by strangling. In the following
year its importation was utterly forbidden, and heavy penal-
tics denounced against offenders." Now, as to the opinion
of the Chinese government, what has been recorded ? There
is not a single case, under any circumstances, since 1783, in
which opium has been admitted by imperial edict into China.
The question was put to Mr. Jardine in 1840— "There is no in-
stance of an imperial edict sanctioning the trade?" — "Nevei,"
he replied. Surely such a continuous mode of action for

46

nearly sixty years is sufficient indication of a determina-
tion to exclude a particular drug-; and the fact of there
having- been no relaxation during- that period must be taken,
if anything- could be so, as an indication of sincerity. But
let the house look at the recent facts. The whole of the opium
seized by the emperor was destroyed, althoug-h it might have
been sold for an amount equal to £3,000,000. The emperor
did not convert a grain of it to his own use, but had it all de-
stroyed in the presence of eye-witnesses. Surely, if he were not
sincere in his opposition to the drug, he would not have
acted so prejudicially to his own pecuniary interests. But
if he be not opposed to its admission, why does he not
realize a revenue from it, and allow it to be admitted at a
hig-h duty? On 40,000 chests, at £25 per cent, ad valorem
duty, he would realize £1,500,000. I know that the emperor's
opposition to the introduction of this drug- into his dominions
is charged to his anxiety because of the oozing out of the Sycee
silver to the extent of about £2,000,000 a-year. But surely
this is a fair matter for the government to be anxious about
when we consider that any derangement of the currency
here produces such ferments in the country, and talk in
this house as if the nation were at the last gasp. But be-
cause the emperor of China puts that argument forward as
one reason, and only one reason, for his opposition to this
trade, he is to be taxed with insincerity.

Again, it is said, that the poppy is grown to a great extent
in China. Now this is rather a proof of extreme weakness
in the internal government, because we know well that there
are constantly edicts against its cultivation. Mr. Jardine is
asked, " Have you ever heard of any attempts made by the
Chinese government to put down the growth of opium in
China?" — "Frequently, in former days there used to be
translations of the Pekin Gazette to that effect." Again : Be-
fore reading the discussions at Pekin about the suppression of
the trade, did you know that opium was extensively grown

47

in China ?" — " Yes, in consequence of having seen it in the
Pekin Gazette, when it used to be translated for the com-
pany, that authorities had been sent out to destroy the
poppy in the provinces in which it is grown." Besides, if
the emperor were not opposed to its use in his dominions,
why does he not encourage its cultivation at home ? This
would put a stop to smuggling and the efflux of Sycee silver,
and would prevent collisions with the English, besides realizing
a large revenue, for the climate of China is very favourable
to the growth of the plant. But I will quote another curi-
ous fact, to prove the sincerity of the emperor's opposition
to the consumption of this drug, for which I am indebted to
the honourable member for Leeds (Air. Aldam). This is an
extract from Recollections of Sibi'ria, by Air. Cottrell, 1840.
Speaking of Semipolatinsk, near the river Irtysh, in Omsk,
he says, " The trade with China is here very considerable ;
about 40 poods, or 1,440 pounds weight of opium, are gene-
rally imported into China yearly from this, but in 1839 it
was all seized and confiscated." Hence we must infer, that
the seizure of the English opium in Canton in 1839, and of
the Russian opium introduced by the Russian merchants,
was part of a new fiscal system and of a general measure,
not directed exclusively against the British. But, Sir, if
this be our opinion of the conduct of the Chinese emperor,
why not charge another oriental monarch with similar insin-
cerity ? Yet I find the following passage in the treaty
between the East India Company and the King of Siam : —
" Merchants are forbidden to bring opium, which is posi-
tively a contraband article in the territories of Siam, and
should a merchant introduce any, the governor shall seize
him, and destroy the whole of it." Surely we may, in
decent consistency, allow to the emperor of China the same
liberty that we^illow to the king of Siam.

Next, it is urged, that we might as well interdict the
growth of barley as the growth of opium. I will meet that

4H

tfafl .'it. one". Ff we eould «:n.y IK, mor«- lor Mir. utility
of Mi- V,r, for Mi- utility of tfo

the |»oj.py, [ would Intel-diet i! ,=, Ho ?

I riot l,;irl-y eon vcrl.il. |e I'. ,„,•,- ,,f ;, ,,,,,,.., | ((, ,|,,.

I'"' opium i .•ipphr;,!,!,. only |,o nc -di

'••''I ]•' I Mi'' [ndi;ili opium i'; not 6TCB fit. tor that.

"ere iinony of Dr. J'.iil.fer, i?i Mu- journul ,,f t.l,.-

Society of li--i .:,(. " l,ii|, for M,.- nnfor

upenUmndaace of i. -i comp.'ir.v

of ol.f.'.innl,!'- iridrplii.-i id Iri'linn opiuiri, Mir- iii:iinii';i' '
Mi'- mun.-.f.r c,n ;i I

.( (MM "f i.li-- !'•

our Iri'lin tri<-flif;il 'l'-parl.irif,iit. vviMi M
tion." Sf> we K<-C that. Indi.'i, from MX- p«-nili;ir fpi.-ili»-.
opium, is not. M.lr f,o .<;'i|.ply it.^: own -I. p;n •( MM :it. wil.fi M.at
nv.-fiil ;ni'l ii'-'-'^; :,'iry nir-.olicinr. IIK|<< d, r
MK-. ol.jcrt. of MIC In'li/iii \>',:< -rniii'Mil lo riilr.iviif.r opium
.1 view t,f> its ui'-dic.'il prop- n put.

to Mr. Stark, ainoM, intf Ili^'-nt (." nM' m.-.n ;.t. ».li»: Iri'li;, I',
— " Ar.rorrliii^ to Mir. inforirirition tli.-it. you li;iv. ol,t;iinc«|,
can opiinn !><• rult,iv,'it<-f] mor*; i-},,-;^,\y :,,]ti\ vviMi
,1, than in any otlirr p

into co)i;;iolcr,'it.iori l)otfi quantity and quality ? — Tli< r,

fjovf rmm-rit, liavf. rn-vr-r nt t.ciriptcd," lie replies, " fo pr^
opium with ref« r .'irely

with a view of meeting the taite of tlie ciiincsc." j hofif.,
there fore, that no one will contend that. the. plnnt, if, thrown
in India for im -.dierd purposes, ff f^rown ns ft IK
is a hundredfold more than i . for the whf>le world ;

but., if grown as a stimulant, let. me n-.vl to the ho
which has Keen put. into my hands, written by a <
l.rfited .surgeon, i by a vast numher of eminent.

I will rcfjuefit to this the serious attention of
the. house, 'f he writer says, " Ifowe.ver valuable f»pium
may be wh- an artielf of medicine, it is irn-

49

possible for any one who is acquainted with the subject to
doubt that the habitual use of it is productive of the most
pernicious consequences— destroying the healthy action of
the digestive organs, weakening the powers of the mind, as
well as those of the body, and rendering the individual who
indulges himself in it a worse than useless member of
society." Some people may think it is a beneficial stimulus.
This doctor says, " I cannot but regard those who promote
the use of opium, as an article of luxury, as inflicting a most
serious injury on the human race." The first gentleman
who signs this letter is Sir B. Brodie, and to the letter
is attached this statement: — "The following gentlemen
state, that they entirely agree with Sir B. Brodie in the
opinion expressed by him in the foregoing letter, and have
accordingly attached their signatures to it : — Sir Henry
Halford, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., F.H.S., President of the Royal
College of Physicians ; Anthony White, Esq., President of
the Royal College of Surgeons, and Surgeon to Westminster
Hospital; W. F. Chambers, M.D., F.R.S. ; Thomas Hodgkin,
M.D.; Geo. Gregory, M.D.; C. Locock, M.D. ; Robt. Ferguson,
M.D. ; Henry Holland, M.D. ; Anthony Todd Thompson,
M.D. ; Thomas Watson, M.D. ; Charles J. B. Williams,
M.D.; John Clendinning, M.D., F.R.S. ; James Carrick
Moore, Esq. ; Benjamin Travers, Esq., F.R.S. ; John Ayrton
Paris, M.D. ; John Forbes, M.D., F.R.S.; Richard Bright,
M.D. ; Robert Liston, Esq., F.R.S. ; J. M. Latham, M.D. ;
Roderic Macleod, M.D. ; Caesar Hawkins, Esq. ; James
Johnson, M.D. ; Frederick Tyrrell, Esq. ; and C. Aston
Key, Esq."

Again, it is said if we abandoned the growth of the poppy
others would take it up ; but it must be allowed, that if the
growth of the poppy were put down in British India, years
must elapse before the same quantity could be grown else-
where; meanwhile, we might hope for an improved morality,
for an improved policy, and for a better taste growing up
K

50

amongst the Chinese. But of this I am sure ; that if the
growth of the article should be entirely prohibited, if it be
no longer grown under the superintendence of the supreme
government, capitalists will be backward to enter on the
cultivation, and will be deterred by the hazard of exposure
when the produce of it shall be visited with severe mea-
sures. Look, too, at what has been done by other govern-
ments. Let us, first, take the Spanish possessions in the
Philippines ; the supply of opium from Manilla, by last re-
turns, is only 94 chests, of which five-sixths had come to
England, and one-sixth had gone to China, of very bad
quality. Here the growth is voluntary, and not encouraged
by the government. A highly respectable and well-informed
merchant, recently returned . from Manilla, states, in a
letter dated January 24, 1843, that, " The import of opium
for home use in the Philippine Islands is strictly prohibited,
and there is no inland trade in the article." He adds also
that, "opium imported in Spanish vessels is permitted to
be bonded for re-exportation, except to China, to which
country Spanish vessels are not allowed to carry it." Contrast
this conduct with ours, and which will come out witli the
greatest honour ? Which will appear the more becoming, the
more moral, the more humane, ay, and I will venture to add,
the more Christian? Why, that of the Spanish Government,
of which it has been said that it is in a state of decay— Sir,
I prefer such a decay to our vigour — " although," continues
the same merchant, " this regulation is frequently evaded, by
the vessels clearing out for a false destination, does not this
manifest, on the part of the Spanish authorities, respect for
the laws of China?" Again : what is the policy in the Dutch
colonies ? It appears from a Parliamentary return that the
average annual value of the imports of opium into Java, from
the year 1826 to 1841, was £45,598. A gentleman of high
commercial standing, recently returned from Batavia, where
he has resided for many years, has stated — " Not a poppy

51

for the product of opium is permitted to be grown in Java
or any other of the Dutch colonies. The Government mo-
nopolizes the import, which is from 300 to 400 chests an-
nually, the Dutch East India Trading Company acting as
their agents in purchase and import. Formerly its import
for re-export was allowed, but now, since last year, as it led
to smuggling, it has been prohibited." But the Dutch
Government protects its own subjects. " The opium," he
adds, " is sold to persons being the highest bidders, who farm
the sale in different districts, of which there are about twelve.
The Government condemns the use of opium, and would
profess that they limit the supply for this reason — the native
chiefs also are inimical to it. There is no chance whatever
of the growth being permitted, even if abandoned by the
British, because, among other reasons, the land is occupied
with more valuable productions, as coffee, tea, sugar, and
indigo."

Next it is asserted that, if Malwa opium were interdicted a
passage through the Company's territories, it would be taken
toDemaun and shipped there. In refutation of this opinion, I
will read an extract from a letter dated Bombay, September
28, 1840. The writer says : — "Formerly a considerable por-
tion of the Malwa opium was shipped from Demaun, which
is 100 miles north of Bombay. It was taken through Me war,
north of Deesa and Cutch, to Kuratchee, whence it was
shipped to Demaun. In 1838, Kuratchce was taken pos-
session of by the British, and as we have possession of all
the ports of Scinde, opium cannot reach the sea except by
smuggling, which can only be done to a very small extent,
as the regular roads are carefully guarded."

The next and last objection which I have to combat is, that
the suppression of the opium trade will inflict a severe blow
upon the revenue of India, and diminish it without affording
any hope of the deficiency being replaced by other means.
Until I had been in conversation with persons who are more

intimate with the subject than myself, I was not aware that
so few financial difficulties stood in the way of the removal
of this evil. I will not detain the house by an enumeration of
plans. But whatever the obstacles may be, and whatever ob-
jections are advanced, I must say with regard to this revenue,
what Sir Stamford Raffles said of the Dutch—" The European
Government, overlooking every consideration of feeling and
humanity, allows an addition to their finances to outweigh
all regard to the ultimate happiness of the country." The
house will surely agree in the sentiments expressed in the
protest of Mr. Tucker, a director of the East India Company
— -" I must contend that, if a revenue cannot be drawn from
such an article as opium, otherwise than by quadrupling the
supply, by promoting the use of the drug, and by placing it
within the reach of the lower classes of the people, no fiscal
consideration can justify our inflicting upon the Malays and
Chinese so grievous an evil."

This, Sir, is the statement on which I rely; and while
I most sincerely thank the house for the kindness and
indulgence with which they have* listened to me, I may
be allowed, perhaps, to express a hope that those who
reply will answer me with facts and statements of equal
authority. Now, Sir, let us make the case our own. What
would be said, if any other nation were to treat us as we
treat the Chinese? What would be said in this country,
and what an amount of just indignation would there be in
this house, if we were told that French buccaneers were
ravaging our coasts, defying our laws, and murdering our
fellow-subjects .'--Should we venture to act thus towards
any other state that was bold enough, and strong enough, to
make reprisals upon us ? Certainly not. And in admitting
this, we admit that our conduct towards the Chinese is
governed by our pride and our power, and not by our own
estimate of justice. Yet who are the people who receive such
treatment at our hands ? How are they described by a per-

53

son who knew them well:— "I have been a long time in
this country, and I have a few words to say in its favour;
here we find our persons more effectually protected by laws
than in many other parts of the East or of the world. In
China, a foreigner can go to sleep with his windows open,
without being in dread either of his life or property, which
are well guarded by a most watchful and excellent police ;
but both are perilled with little or no protection in many
other states : business is conducted with unexampled facility,
and in general with singular good faith, though there are
of course occasional exceptions, which only the more strik-
ingly bear out my assertion. Neither would I omit the
general courtesy of the Chinese in all their intercourse and
transactions with foreigners. These, and some other consi-
derations, are the reasons that so many of us so oft revisit
this country, and stay in it so long." Remember that this
speech was delivered at Canton before the war in 1839 ; and
that these are the words of Mr. Jardine, a gentleman who was
very much mixed up with the transactions which we all of
us deplore.

Do you know, or are you indifferent to, the opinions and
language of foreign nations? Can you take up a single
foreign journal, without finding it full of sarcasm arid con-
tempt of our conduct and policy? Have you heard the
honest, sober, and conscientious opinions of foreign states-
men ? Do you value the sentiments of foreign historians ?
Here is the language of Count Bjornsterna, in his authentic
work on the British empire in the East, a work that is widely
circulated on the Continent. "Strictly speaking, the whole
trade with India," says the count, "rests at present on a
highly immoral basis; on 15,000 or 20,000 chests of opium,
of the value of £2,000,000 or £3,000,000 sterling, with which
the Chinese are ever}7 year poisoned. Thus a country which
had for thousands of years accumulated the gold of the

54

world which is destined by nature to bear the finest fruits

and the dearest spices which contribute to the enjoyment

d refreshment of man, has been compelled in our days to

bear a noxious drufc wMch ^^ physical Md ^ ^

bihty among the millions of inhabitants of the celestial
empire.'

If such accusations as these were unjust, I should alto-
gether despise them; but, knowing that they are richly
served, they are to my mind absolutely intolerable. Sir
ilthough I may be animadverted upon, and perhaps rebuked
for having presumed to handle so important a matter, I shall
ever be thankful that I have acted as an instrument to lay
s abominable evil before the eye of the public. I shall
leeply regret to have given offence to this house, or to any
ndividual; nevertheless, I shall rejoice in the disclosure, and
ie possible removal, of the mischief. Sir, the condition of
this empire does demand a most deep and solemn consi-
deration; within and without, we are hollow and insecure
i is that we wear a certain appearance of power and
majesty but, with one arm resting on"the East, and the other
West, we are in too many instances trampling under
ot every moral and religious obligation. I confess I speak
moB sincerely, though few, perhaps, will agree with me;
1 1 do say-it is in my heart and I will bring it out-if this
> be the course of our future policy; if thus we are to
se our arts and arms, our science and our superiority
f knowledge over the world-if all these are to be turned to
he injury and not to the advantage of mankind, I should
h prefer that we shrink within the proportions of our
P«bho virtue, and descend to the level of a third-rate powers
But a great and a noble opportunity is now offered to us of
being just and generous in the height of victory. In such a
spirit, and with such an aim, there is hope that we may yet
>e spared to run a blessed, a useful, and a glorious career -

55

directing all our energies and all our vows — all that we have,
and all that we shall receive — to that one great end of human
existence, " Glory to God in the highest ; on earth peace,
good- will towards men/'

J. Haddon, Printer, Castle Street, Finsbury.

SOLD BY MESSRS. HOULSTON AND STONEMAN,
65, PATERNOSTER Row.

CaUSeS Which exclud<> the mer-

*me

mmercml intercourse with that vast empire. By the Rev

y

6d LW''-' ° -^oegeCambridge. Price

T EVIDENCE RELATING TO THE OPIUM TRADE WITH
By WILLIAM STORKS FRY. Price Is.

r E °PIUM

GROSER. Price 6d.

OP FACTS RELATiNa TO THE OPIHM TRADK.